Speaking to Telegraph.co.uk, actor Billy Bob Thornton has stated that he believes that “we’re living in a time when we’re making — in my humble opinion — the worst movies in history.”
And the reason?
“They’re geared toward the video game-playing generation. And these video games, which I’m on my son about constantly, these games are people killing for fun, and I think traditionally in movies, there’s always been some kind of lesson in the violent movies.”
On one hand, Thornton obviously has a very shallow understanding of this particular entertainment form. It is common for older generations, or people who don’t play video games to oversimplify the medium, labeling them violent and shallow.
However, there may also be some truth in this. Video games very rarely match the narrative depth of even average movies, and one could argue that this amounts to slipping standards. Do we really care who we are shooting in games, or why we are shooting them? Are games turning us into mindless virtual gore fetishists, who require only the most basic narrative guidance? Is this effecting our taste in films?
Or is Thornton just another out of touch, anti-video game lobbyist with little understanding of the medium he is criticising?
Discuss video games dumbing down movie audiences on the MyGaming forum.
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